


Kokua Rendered

by Jinx (jinx37kat)



Series: Kokua [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-12
Updated: 2010-12-12
Packaged: 2017-10-20 07:39:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/210329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinx37kat/pseuds/Jinx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Waiting is the hardest part.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kokua Rendered

Steve had been sitting in the waiting room for several hours with no word from the doctors. He vaguely remembered Chin and Kono coming in not too long after he and Danny had arrived at Queen’s, but he was so focused on his right hand and arm that he couldn’t be sure of anything at the moment.

He continued to stare at the dried blood covering his skin.

Danny’s blood.

Too much of Danny’s blood.

It was caked under his fingernails and around the cuticles. There was not an uncovered inch of skin that did not have blood on it up past his wrist. Strangely, though, that was not what fascinated him. What really captivated him was the perfect hand print in blood on his upper forearm just below his elbow. It was so perfect, in fact, that if Steve had wanted to, he would have been able to take a picture and have Chin run prints.

He hazily recalled Kono suggesting Steve go wash up not too long after she and Chin arrived, but he had refused. As morbid as it sounded, it was a part of Danny, the only part of Danny that Steve was currently able to hold on to.

He was so focused on the hand print that he didn’t hear the doctor call his name from the entryway of the waiting room. Kono’s hand on his bicep forced him out of his fog and he turned to her only to see her staring elsewhere. Steve whipped his head around to face the doctor, jumping up at the same time.

“Commander McGarrett?” Doctor Greer asked, stepping into the room.

Not bothering to acknowledge his name, Steve asked, “How is he?”

Doctor Greer gestured to the vacant chairs and waited until everyone had been re-seated before speaking. “Surgery was… difficult.” A small gasp from Kono was only acknowledged by Chin, who put his arm around his cousin’s shoulders. The doctor continued. “Detective Williams lost a great deal of blood.”

Steve swallowed hard as he looked down at his arm. “Is he…?” He didn’t want to say it because saying it was admitting it and he refused to believe that Danny had left him behind.

“He will be fine,” the doctor answered; and the three other Five-0 members sagged in relief. “As I said, he lost a lot of blood, but the bullet missed his vital organs like his heart, kidney and spleen. It tore through muscle, nicked a rib, but otherwise didn’t leave too much damage.”

“Why,” Steve began, voice rough from disuse. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Why did it take so long?”

“Well,” the doctor answered. “As I mentioned there was a lot of blood loss. He was extremely unstable when you brought him in, blood pressure extremely low, and it caused his heart to stop on two separate occasions. Once we were able to repair the damage and start the blood transfusion, Detective Williams stabilize and the rest of the surgery went smoothly. ”

At the mentioned of Danny’s heart stopping, Steve felt himself pale. He hadn’t thrown up since his SEAL training days, but his stomach was rebelling nonetheless. He had come so close to losing his partner. He couldn’t even think.

The doctor continued, “Barring any unforeseen complications, I think we should be able to release him in a couple of days.”

Swallowing hard, he forced his attention back to the doctor. “Can I see him?”

Doctor Greer shook his head. “I’m sorry, no. I’m afraid they are settling him in to ICU for a few hours for observation before moving him to his own room. So, unfortunately, it will be another few hours before anyone can visit.” Noting the state the head of the Governor’s Task Force was in, Doctor Greer suggested, “Why don’t you go home, clean up and I’ll have someone call you when Detective Williams is ready for visitors.”

Steve shook his head at the same time that Kono replied, “That’s a good idea, Boss.”

“No,” Steve answered. “I need to stay here.”

Steve missed the looks that passed between the doctor and his other two team members.

Sighing, as though the doctor expected nothing less, he stood up to leave. “I’ll have someone come get you when Detective Williams is ready for visitors.”

Once the doctor had left, someone stepped in front of Steve and he looked up into Chin’s worried face.

“C’mon, brah, let me take you home and you can grab a shower.”

Steve shook his head. “No, I’m not leaving.”

Crouching down on his haunches, Chin looked sternly into McGarrett’s face. “Yes, you are.”

“Chin,” Steve warned coldly.

“Do you honestly think Danny’s going to want to see his blood all over you when you go in and see him?” Chin asked.

Steve had the decency to look ashamed. “But what if he…” Steve couldn’t finish that sentence; fear choked the words from his throat.

“You heard the doc, Boss,” Kono chimed in. “Danny’s gonna be all right. They just need to get him settled in before he can have visitors.”

Steve sighed hard and scrubbed his left hand over his face. “I know, it’s just…”

“Come on,” Chin said as he rose, gripping Steve’s bicep and lifting him as he himself stood up.

“Okay,” Steve relented, slowly following Chin out of the waiting room. At the doorway, however, Steve turned to Kono, who had not moved from her spot on the couch. “Kono?”

“I’ll be right here and call you the instant anything changes.”

Steve gave her a grateful smile and turned to follow Chin out of the hospital.

* * *

There had been no changes in Danny’s condition by the time Steve returned to Queen’s forty minutes later.

Chin and Kono were still there with their boss, close enough to be supportive, but far enough away to give him brooding space.

Steve sat on the edge of the chair, elbows on his knees and hands clasped together in front of him. He stared at his now cleaned right hand and forearm, but still couldn’t get the vision of the handprint out of his mind. It was as though that handprint had irrevocably marked him; marked him as belonging to Danny… or something. Steve couldn’t explain it. He felt marked all the way down to his soul.

And it wasn’t such a bad feeling.

He hadn’t felt this kind of connection to anyone in his entire life. He’d never really been close to his sister after their mother died. Hell, there really hadn’t been a family since his mom had died. His dad had closed himself off and his sister had started rebelling, leaving Steve to deal with the fallout until he was old enough to leave home and join the Navy.

Once enlisted, he threw himself completely into SEAL training and became the best of the best. Sure, he had guys in his unit he would die for. That was the way things were. You had to trust your men or you might as well forget it. It was the only thing you could count on when you were out on a job.

But Danny…

There was just something about Danny that had made Steve trust him from day one. He was like a fucking terrier that would just not let anything go, ever. While even though Steve was technically Danny’s boss, they were partners, equals, which Danny took great pleasure in reminding Steve every chance he got.

Steve admitted, if only to himself, that he tended to undermine Danny’s police knowledge with his own military training. The police had rules and regulations, policies to follow and laws to enact. Many of the ops Steve had been on were in-and-outs, getting the job done by any means necessary. Danny couldn’t understand Steve’s way of doing things and Steve, while he understood Danny’s way, just didn’t have the patience for them. It was the ultimate bone of contention between them from day one.

But, amazingly, it worked for them. Well, it worked for Steve. He was certain it really didn’t work for Danny especially with all the yelling and hand gestures that flung around when Danny let loose. But, at the same time, Steve knew with confidence that if it really bothered Danny as much as he claimed, the Governor would have heard about it by now.

At this point, Steve knew, they just bitch at each other for the sake of bitching.

It was what they did.

And it was something he was seriously looking forward to once Danny woke up.

If he woke up, his traitorous mind supplied.

Steve shook his head, trying to dislodge the negative thought and looked up into the kind eyes of Kono.

“Hey, boss. How you holding up?”

Steve tried to give her a smile, but it was barely a twitch of the corner of his lip. He took a deep breath. “I’d be better if they’d let me go in and see him.”

She put her hand on his right forearm and quickly removed it when she felt him flinch.

“Sorry,” they both said at the same time.

He didn’t know why, but having Kono touch him in the exact same spot as the phantom handprint felt… wrong somehow.

After a few minutes, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked over. Kono gestured to the entrance of the waiting room where a nurse now stood.

Steve jumped and practically rushed to her.

“You can…” the nurse began at the same time that Steve started, “Can I…?”

The nurse started down the hallway, and Steve spared a second to turn to the rest of his team.

Both Kono and Chin were smiling their relief at him. “Tell him we’re here for him, brah,” Chin said.

Steve hesitated for a second when Kono said with a smile, “Go!”

Steve smiled a real smile at them both for the first time that day and turned to jog after the nurse, who had stopped to wait for him a few yards down the hall.

* * *

The nurse and Steve stopped at the doorway to Danny’s room and he looked in through the glass of the door.

Danny didn’t look like his heart had stopped beating twice on the operating table. In fact, he didn’t even look like anything was really wrong with him. Sure, he was pale from the blood loss, though not as pale as he had been in the car. He had an oxygen tube in his nose and several IVs attached to the back of his hands as well as a heart monitor clipped to his finger. But… with the way Danny looked when Steve arrived at the hospital several hours before, he was expecting Danny to look much worse.

But, he also knew looks could be very, very deceiving and he turned to the nurse. “Is he…”

She smiled softly. “He really is going to be okay,” she answered his unspoken question. “We just need to monitor him for the next forty-eight hours for infection and then you should be able to take him home.”

Steve twisted back to stare at Danny through the glass. Taking a deep breath, he moved through the door.

He was halfway into the room when the nurse asked with some amusement, “I suppose if I told you ‘you only have five minutes with him’, you wouldn’t listen to me, huh?”

He turned and smiled sheepishly at her, causing her to snort. “I thought so.” She knew these two, if not personally, then by reputation, and she added, “Just try to keep it down and make sure he rests.” She departed, leaving Steve with Danny.

Steve stood to the right of Danny’s bed just taking in the sight of his breathing, alive, partner, willing away the vision of the last time he’d seen Danny in their car, gasping for breath before going completely still. He watched the slight rise and fall of Danny’s chest, reveling in the soft ‘beep’ of the heart monitor and the pink color that had come back to Danny’s lips.

He stood there for several minutes, allowing his brain to slowly realize his partner was really and truly alive.

Danny hadn’t left him.

The relief was so great that had he not been holding on to the side railings of the bed, he would have collapsed to his knees. As it was, he gradually peeled his white-knuckled fingers from their death-grip on the bars and slowly made his way over to the corner of the room where a chair sat empty. He pulled it over to the left side of the bed, unconsciously, so he could keep an eye on the door, and sat down heavily on the soft cushion.

He had zoned out on just watching Danny breath that he didn’t notice the beeping pattern of the heart monitor increase. It wasn’t until Doctor Greer, and the nurse who brought him to Danny’s room, entered that he became aware of the noise.

Wide eyes looked frighteningly up at the doctor before shooting down to look at his partner, afraid of what he might find.

He sagged in relief when he saw tired blue eyes staring up at him.

“Hey, Danno,” Steve said softly standing up. “Howzit?”

He smiled as Danny rolled his eyes at the Hawaiian slang. “Hey,” Danny whispered.

After a few seconds of silent communication between the two partners, Doctor Greer moved up to the bed.

“Nice to see you awake, Detective.”

The nurse moved to the other side of the bed where Steve was standing and Steve moved a few steps back to give her room, though he had no intention of leaving.

“How are you feeling?” The doctor asked.

“Like,” Danny began, though the word was rough. He licked his lips and tried to swallow, but his throat was still dry from the anesthetic. The nurse gave him a few ice chips and he smiled at her gratefully. Trying again, he replied, “Like I just got shot.”

The doctor smiled. “That you did, Detective. It was a good thing your partner got you here when he did.”

Danny looked over at Steve and managed a small grin. Licking his dry lips again and swallowing hard, Danny replied, “He watches NASCAR.”

Steve rolled his eyes but grinned.

The doctor chuckled as he moved around the bed to check on Danny’s wound. “Looks, pretty good, Detective. Barring an infection, we should have you out of here in a few days.”

Danny raised his eyes to Steve, who shrugged; though Steve was unable to hide his relieved happiness.

“That’s great, doc!” Steve exclaimed for himself and on Danny’s behalf.

“Yeah, thanks, doc,” Danny replied softly, eyes already sinking closed in exhaustion.

“Just get some rest,” the doctor said, patting Danny’s shoulder. “We’ll be back to check on you in a couple hours.”

Danny heard none of that as he had already slipped into slumber.

Steve looked down at his sleeping partner and back up to Doctor Greer. “Thank you,” he said with heartfelt sincerity, reaching out his hand.

Doctor Greer shook it before he followed the nurse out of the room.

Steve dragged the chair as close to the bed as was possible and slumped down heavily.

Danny was going to be all right.

Steve dropped his chin to his chest with exhaustion and felt himself drift off.

* * *

“…totally go for some shave ice right about now.”

Steve heard faraway voices but had no desire to pay any attention. He was so worn out from the day’s events; he just wanted to sleep for the next several days. Then he remembered what those events had been and his eyes popped open, immediately scanning the room for any perceived threat.

What he found was Kono sitting cross-legged on the foot of the bed and Chin parked in a chair on Danny’s right. The head of Danny’s bed was raised up a bit, so he was no longer completely flat, and he was digging ice chips out of a plastic cup with his fingers and swallowing them greedily.

“Welcome back, partner,” Danny said, smiling at the confused look in Steve’s eyes.

Rubbing his palms over his face, Steve grinned at Danny. “Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?”

Danny shrugged his right shoulder and stated magnanimously. “I’ve been awake for hours.”

Kono rolled her eyes and Chin grinned at the lie. “Try fifteen minutes, brah. And you look like you’re gonna crash at any moment.”

Now that Steve was awake, Chin looked over at Kono and tilted his head towards the door. Understanding the message loud and clear, she unfolded herself from the bed and got up. “We’re gonna take off,” she said. “I want to get some surf in tomorrow morning before work.”

Steve smiled at the cousins. “Why don’t you both take tomorrow off?”

“Seriously?” Kono asked, looking at Chin for confirmation that Steve wasn’t pulling her chain.

Chin shrugged and looked back over at Steve. “What about Gentry?”

Steve’s eyes darkened with hatred, but it was gone within seconds. “I’ll take care of Gentry later.”

“’I’ll’?” Chin repeated, knowing full well that Steve was gearing up for some righteous revenge and hoping to stop him before half of Hawai’i was shot up on the process.

“We,” Steve corrected himself, though he knew no one believed him. “I meant, ‘we’.”

“Steve,” Danny warned, and Steve glanced over at Danny with unrepentant eyes.

“I meant ‘we’,” Steve clarified.

“You better,” Danny answered, glaring at his partner and setting the plastic cup down next to his right hip.

There was a stand-off as everyone stared at Steve and Steve tried to look everywhere but at his team.

“So,” Steve said, trying to deflect everyone’s eyes off him. “Tomorrow. Vacation. No work. Okay?”

Kono and Chin nodded.

“Thanks, boss,” Kono said as she followed Chin out of the door.

“Yeah, thanks, brah,” Chin replied, though the look that passed between the cousins left no doubt that they would be in the office bright and early the next day to start a new search for Gentry. They wanted to get to him before Steve has a chance, or there might not be anything left of the trafficker to prosecute.

 

Once Kono and Chin left, Steve turned his attention to Danny.

“So… how are you feeling?”

Danny assessed his partner for several long seconds before letting it go for the moment.

“The question is,” Danny redirected, “how are you feeling?”

Steve’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean? I wasn’t the one who was shot.”

“No,” Danny answered. “But you were the one who was out like a light a few minutes ago.”

Steve looked away, faint color high on his cheeks. “Long day.”

“You should go home and get some sleep,” Danny advised.

“No,” Steve’s tone left no room for argument and Danny decided not to push it. He would deal with his partner later… when he felt less like sleeping for a week.

The silence in the room caused Steve to glance over at Danny and his breath caught at the look his partner was giving him. There was fond amusement in the blue eyes, but there was also something else. Something he himself carefully kept hidden from his partner as much as he could. But seeing it in Danny’s eyes… There was no way to stop it from reflecting back from his own.

Danny blinked and was the first to look away; the tension in the room was now very uncomfortable and very palpable.

Steve stared at the floor, having no clue how to make this new strain between the two of them go away. He glanced over as Danny cleared his throat. “So, uh…” Danny’s voice trailed off. For once in his life, he didn’t know what to say.

“Yeah,” Steve answered, sagging in his chair.

This sucked. This was not how it was supposed to be with them. Even when things were a bit on edge between them, one of them usually always knew a way to break the ice. This whatever-it-was between them was new, uncharted, and uncomfortable territory.

Silence blanketed the room, making things even more edgy.

Just when Steve felt like jumping up and fleeing from the room, “DADDY!” was heard shrieking from the doorway.

Both men looked over to see Grace running into the room, screeching to a halt next to the bed.

Danny smiled and reached out his right hand. “Hey, Monkey, what are you doing here?”

“Mommy brought me.” Grace looked over to Steve. “Hi, Steve!”

“Hey, kiddo,” Steve replied, smiling at the little girl.

“What…” Danny didn’t finish the thought as Rachel walked in the room, looking worried, but trying her hardest not to show it.

“Rachel.”

“Daniel.”

“How did…” Danny looked over at Steve at his unfinished question and Steve shook his head in denial.

“An officer Kalakaua called just after you were brought in to let us know what happened. Since we were assured you would be all right, I didn’t want to pull Grace from school early.”

Steve’s eyes narrowed. Cold-hearted bitch, but he kept his comment to himself.

“Daddy, daddy, look what I made you!” Grace’s happy voice broke the tension in the room as she scrambled to stand on Chin’s vacant chair and hold out a piece of paper.

Danny took the gift and admired the collage.

“This is the most amazing picture I have ever seen,” Danny praised. “What’s it made of?”

“The teacher had us make a picture out of native Hawaiian plant pieces,” she explained and started pointing out various leaves. “See? That’s part of a palm tree. And that’s cotton. And that’s sugar cane. And that’s nena. And that’s,” pointing to a large green leaf, “a haha. And that’s…”

Danny interrupted her, pointing to the last one. “That’s a what-what?”

“Haha, Danno.”

“Is it funny?”

Grace giggled and rolled her eyes, much like a miniature version of her father. “No, daddy, it’s a big leaf native to O’ahu.” It was clear Grace was quoting her teacher.

“Looks kinda funny,” Danny stated. “What do you think, Steve?”

Steve looked at the picture and then over to Grace, who was leaning over her father. “I think it’s a very nice picture.”

Grace beamed at Steve, and Steve saw Danny’s smile in the little girl’s face, making his stomach flutter a bit.

Unused to these feelings and feeling uncomfortable with Rachel standing a few feet away, Steve cleared his throat as he stood up. “I think I should let you two,” purposefully excluding Rachel, “catch up.”

“You don’t have to leave, Steve,” Grace stated. “You’re family, too.”

Grace’s innocent statement caused the knot in Steve’s stomach to tighten. He looked over at Danny, who gave Steve a pleading look, silently asking him to stay.

As Steve sat back down, Grace yelped, “OH! I have something else for you, too!” She turned around and reached out her arms to her mom, who was holding her daughter’s backpack. Rachel unzipped the bag and held it open for Grace, who dug around until she found what she was looking for.

Turning around, Grace held out a small, brown teddy bear dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops.

At his first look at the bear, Danny burst out laughing. Pain ached through his left side and he bent himself over in an effort to relieve the twinge, but the sight of the teddy bear was just too damned funny. He spared a glance over at Steve, who had turned an interesting shade of red and who had slipped down in his chair, hiding his face with his fingers.

“You like him, Danno?” Grace asked, smiling, holding the bear out to her father.

Danny, trying his damnedest to get himself under control despite the tears threatening to fall from his eyes, turned to his daughter and took the bear from her hands. “I love him,” he stated sincerely, blinking back his mirth.

“Yay!” Grace exclaimed, grinning at her father’s happiness.

“I’m sure he’ll help me get all kinds of better,” Danny said, pressing the bear to his chest.

“He will, daddy,” Grace assured her father.

“What should we name him?”

Grace frowned in thought, but before she could answer, Danny offered, “How about, Steve?”

Danny laughed as he heard Steve groan to his left and Grace, ever her father’s daughter, picked up on the fact her dad was teasing his friend and readily agreed.

“Yes!”

At Steve’s second groan, both father and daughter laughed some more as Steve slid further in the chair and buried his face in his palms. The jovial atmosphere was soon dashed, however, when movement behind Grace made the little girl turn around.

“We should go, Grace,” Rachel said, stepping closer to the bed to help her daughter down from the chair. “Your father needs his rest.”

Before Grace jumped down, she leaned over the rails and kissed Danny on the cheek. “Love you, Danno.”

“Love you, too, Gracie,” Danny replied, watching his daughter and ex-wife exit the room.

Once the two had left, Danny turned to his partner and smirked as Steve slouched in his chair, refusing to look at him.

Danny lifted the bear from his chest and waved him in the air. “Steve, meet Steve.”

Hand still over his face, Steve mumbled, “I hate you so much.”

“Nah,” Danny answered tiredly. “You love me.”

Sighing with exhaustion, but still smiling, Danny let himself sink in to the mattress, holding the bear against his chest, and closed his eyes.

Just before he went completely under, he could have sworn he heard Steve reply, “Yeah, I do.”

 

Fin  
December 12, 2010


End file.
